The Gadgets That Will Make Your Flying Dream A Reality

All through history, humans have longed to fly like birds. Ancient mythology is full of tales of human flight, like the story of Icarus, whose father Daedalus fashioned wings for the two of them to escape confinement in a palace tower. Tragically, Icarus ignored his father's warnings and flew too close to the sun, melting the wax on his wings. In the 15th century, Renaissance painter, engineer, and scientist Leonardo da Vinci studied the flight of bats and birds and sketched mechanisms for wing-like devices with articulating mechanisms for flying.

While most efforts to create a personal flying mechanism have been unsuccessful, today, modern technology makes human flight feasible. Hundreds of companies and teams of engineers are currently working on solutions. In addition to the prospect of creating a marketable personal flyer that will reap financial benefits, there is even a $1 million prize offered for the best operating device.

Launched in 2017, GoFly, the personal flying device challenge sponsored by Boeing, is a competition to design and build a "safe, quiet, ultra-compact, near-VTOL personal flying device capable of flying 20 miles" while carrying a single person. As of September 2021, more than 850 teams from 103 countries are vying for the grand prize. New teams are still welcome to enter the competition. GoFly recently announced an extension of the deadline for its competition until September 2023. Here are a few of the gadgets that could make your flying dream a reality (and possibly win the $1 million prize).

The Slide is a skateboard-type hoverboard, introduced by the automaker Lexus, that floats several inches above the ground. Displaying the typical Lexus luxury style, the board features the company's iconic spindle grille signature shape. The deck is made from sustainable bamboo while magnetic levitation technology similar to that used in Japan's high-speed bullet train keeps the board floating in the air. The device employs superconductors and magnets cooled by liquid nitrogen to more than 300 degrees below zero to repel the force of gravity over a riding surface or special skatepark containing hundreds of magnets.

Although the Slide is operational, the company designed the hoverboard simply to promote the Lexus brand, with no immediate marketing plans for the product. To demonstrate the capabilities of its prototype hoverboard, Lexus built a custom skate park (complete with magnets) in Barcelona, Spain.

Despite the Slide's remarkable performance, some issues persist. During a demonstration, professional skateboarder Ross McGouran labored to keep the board from dragging on the ground. The resultant friction brings the board to a halt. The device must be refilled with liquid nitrogen every 10 minutes, severely limiting the length of any session. Yet, most observers are amazed when they watch the device float across the water, reminiscent of Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) in "Back to the Future II."

Jetpack Aviation designed the JB10 with sophisticated technology that allows the average person without piloting skills to fly. The craft and pilot are kept stable with gyroscopes and accelerometers that monitor the vehicle's orientation hundreds of times per second, constantly sending feedback to the system's control electronics and adjusting the thrusters. The JB10 replaces the JB9 model with an increase in fuel capacity and thrust, and it is fitted with more advanced computer engine controls and pilot displays. Two turbojet engines, each producing nearly 200 pounds of thrust, power the JB10. The engines can burn kerosene, Jet A-1, or diesel fuel.

The JB10 weighs 83 lbs. (empty), delivers a maximum thrust of 395 pounds, can reach a maximum speed of 120 mph, has an operating ceiling of 15,000 feet, and flies for up to eight minutes, depending on the pilot's weight and the density altitude. Jetpack Aviation has conducted extensive tests domestically and internationally with the JB10 over the past several years, including participation in the Red Bull Air Race events.

In 2018, Jetpack Aviation introduced the JB11, the successor to the JB10 which offers improvements in power, speed, and safety. The new model employs three turbojet engines per side instead of just one and can reach speeds over 150 mph. Exceptional maneuverability and speed control are achieved (on the JB9 and JB10, as well) by the pilot vectoring the entire engine, rather than just vectoring thrust. Perhaps the best features of the JB11 are the safety improvements. Should an engine fail, the jetpack can compensate and automatically re-balance the thrust to prevent a pilot from spiraling out of control.

Yves Rossy, nicknamed "Jetman," has been flying his winged jet pack creation since 2008, and has soared over the Dubai desert at a velocity of 125 mph. In the air, Rossy climbs and dives like a bird with the advantage of wing lift to boost flight efficiency (the lift-to-drag ratio). His early flights have always required a plane or helicopter for takeoff and a parachute to land. However, his latest model, the Jetcat P550 provides Human Vertical Take Off and Landing (HVTOL) capability with enough power to take off from the ground.

Rossy designed the wingsuit jet pack with semi-rigid, airplane-type carbon-fiber wings weighing 55 kg that span about 8 feet (2.4 meters). The original suit was powered by four small Jet-Cat P200 turbine engines modified from large kerosene-fueled model aircraft engines and attached using a custom harness. While the Rossi Jetpack demonstrated some stunning flying maneuvers once airborne, the inventor remained frustrated with the inability to take off from the ground and considered it the flying suit's biggest weakness.

With the newer Jetcat P550 model, Rossi has enough vertical lift to fly straight upwards at up to 112 mph. He has been working with a Swiss team of engineers to develop an autonomous, self-balancing vertical takeoff system activated by finger controls in his gloves. He is also working with a parachute developer to design a low-altitude parachute, making it safer to fly close to admiring crowds.

Dezso Molnar, aeronautical engineer, pilot, and entrepreneur, has designed a vehicle that has been called a flying motorcycle or flying car but may be best described as a "gyrocycle." Inspired by the common desire of commuters to escape traffic when crawling forward at a snail's pace, Molnar hopes his design is "a step in the evolution of personal vehicles." "The GT takes a new approach to flying cars," he continues. "We are narrowing the mission. What really matters is the ability to fly into a congested area and then drive out of it."

Dezso built the proof-of-concept Molnar GT in a mere seven months in a bicycle factory with the help of a bicycle designer and machinist. He has flown (and driven) the street- and air-legal device with a proper license, registration, smog certificate, and insurance since 2005.

Molnar's design combines the technology of a gyrocopter for air travel and a motorcycle engine that drives the propeller and rear wheel for transportation on the ground. Gyrocopters (gyroplanes) have been around for a century with the first rotorcraft, the Autogiro, built by Spaniard Juan de la Cierva and flown in 1923. Like most gyrocopters, when the vehicle is pushed forward by a propeller, lift is created when the rotary wing spins in-flight caused by the wind created from forward motion. In the event of an engine failure, the autorotation allows the gyrocopter to descend slowly and safely while the pilot makes a controlled landing.

While many startup companies pour thousands of dollars into research, design, and development of personal flying machines, one backyard inventor demonstrated that even the average person without any engineering experience can build one of these devices. Colin Peter Furze is a British YouTube personality, inventor, and stuntman from Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. A plumber by trade, he has used his practical experience to build many unconventional contraptions, including a jet-powered motorcycle made with pulsejet engines, the world's fastest mobility scooter, and the world's longest motorcycle in 2008 at 46.8 feet (the record has since been broken at over 100 feet).

Furze built his first DIY multicopter by mounting two Parajet two-stroke motors to the bottom of a metal frame with the propellers rotating in the same direction. However, he built a second device, an S-shaped frame that allowed each propellor to rotate in opposite directions. The design, allowing counter rotation of the propellors, reduced the effect of gyroscopic spin, making the device easier to control.

Furze considered adding a stabilization system, but the extra weight would have prevented the vehicle from getting off the ground with the already taxed motors. The device remained low-tech requiring Furze to control each throttle individually to stay airborne. Moving forwards or backward requires shifting the pilot's weight in either direction, and side-to-side movement comes from placing more weight on the appropriate foot. However, none of these techniques have much effect if the device enters a spin when the engines run at different speeds.

The Blackfly personal eVTOL aircraft, designed and built by Opener, an aerospace company headquartered in Palo Alto, California, resembles two boat hulls, one inverted on top of the other. The vehicle has two wings, attached to the front and rear, and four electrically powered propellers attached to each wing. Opener designed the Blackfly with safety as its highest priority. The vehicle features triple-modular redundant flight systems, control surfaces, and sensors to guarantee a risk-free flight.

Via FutureFlight, according to Opener's director of operations Kristina Melton, the stability system automatically activates when the flight computers detect a flight scheme "beyond what the aircraft thinks is controllable," maintaining hover or cruise altitude. The aircraft also includes a "return to home" feature like those found on hobby drones. The company also fitted the aircraft with a ballistic recovery parachute system with dual redundant activation for emergencies.

Classified as an ultralight, the Blackfly operates under federal air regulations Part 103. The aircraft is limited to a maximum pilot weight of 200 pounds, cannot be flown near populated areas, and only operate during daylight hours (visual flight rule conditions). Opener says the Blackfly production model will have the capability to climb to 1,200 feet, reach a top speed of 62 mph, and have a range of 30 miles on a full battery charge. Opener said the company expects to start taking orders from customers in 2023 and sell up to 25 of its ultralight category, computer-operated aircraft before the end of the year.